Norris backtracks: 'We didn't have a better car than Red Bull'

F1 News

Norris on battle against Verstappen and Red Bull Racing
27 June at 17:56
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  • Tygo Bekkema

Lando Norris fell just short of Max Verstappen in Barcelona last weekend. After a tactical battle involving different tyre strategies, the Dutchman proved to be just faster. Afterwards, Norris was quite upset that he did not get the top step of the podium, as he thought McLaren had the faster car. Now the Briton is backtracking a little on that.

According to Norris, there was another reason why McLaren appeared to be faster in Barcelona during the race. "After reviewing last weekend, I don't necessarily think we had a much quicker car than Red Bull," Norris stated. He continued: "I looked quicker more often than not than Max because of my extended stints, having a decent tyre delta over him. I did like six laps in the first part and four laps in the second. And around Barcelona, that's a big difference," he said on media day in Austria.

Norris explains why it is so hard to beat Verstappen

Norris faces the rest of this season with confidence, but the McLaren driver notes that it does make it difficult to win against the Verstappen-Red Bull combination. "There's just a tiny little things I needed to tidy up. As a team, we have to do a slightly better job. But a lot of it was at the level that it needs to be. So we could go on and win some races. I definitely think that's possible with how the team are performing, how I've performed so far, how I'm performing at the minute. But we're against one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1, one of the best performing teams in Formula 1," he added.